Journal of Promotion Management

ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wjpm20

Effect of Social Media Influencer Marketing on

Consumers’ Purchase Intention and the Mediating
Role of Credibility

Saima & M. Altaf Khan

To cite this article: Saima & M. Altaf Khan (2020): Effect of Social Media Influencer Marketing
on Consumers’ Purchase Intention and the Mediating Role of Credibility, Journal of Promotion
Management, DOI: 10.1080/10496491.2020.1851847

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2020.1851847

Published online: 21 Dec 2020.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 17

View related articles

View Crossmark data

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=wjpm20
JOURNAL OF PROMOTION MANAGEMENT
https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2020.1851847

Effect of Social Media Influencer Marketing

on Consumers’ Purchase Intention and the Mediating
Role of Credibility
Saima and M. Altaf Khan
Department of Commerce and Business Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
A new digital marketing tool that has emerged today is that of Social Media; Influencer
social media influencer marketing. Social media influencers are marketing; credibility;
those individuals who shape consumers’ perceptions regarding purchase intention;
mediation
a brand or product through photos, videos and other updates
on social media platforms. This research paper is an attempt
to identify the effect of various attributes of social media influ-
encers on their credibility and eventually on purchase inten-
tion of consumers in Delhi NCR, India. An online questionnaire
was used to collect data through Google Forms and the size
of the sample was 76. Quota sampling technique was used,
and structural equation modeling through SmartPLS 3 was
used for data analysis. The findings reveal that trustworthiness,
information quality and entertainment value have significant
direct effects on the credibility of influencers as well as signifi-
cant indirect effects on the purchase intention of consumers.
Also, the purchase intention of consumers is directly affected
by an influencer’s trustworthiness and credibility.

Introduction
Day by day, we are advancing toward a digital era. People today are con-
tinuously scrolling on their smartphones or typing away on their laptops.
For many people, social media has turned into a basic need and not a day
passes by without them checking their social media habitually. Thus, it
comes as no surprise that social media networks have also become an
important marketing platform today. Social networking websites have
become a popular means for brands to achieve the objectives of relation-
ship marketing and enhance their brand value (Arora & Sanni, 2019;
Chakraborty & Bhat, 2018; Dodoo, 2018; Ibrahim et al., 2020; Kumar et al.,
2020; Ott et al., 2016; Papasolomou & Melanthiou, 2012; Pinto et al., 2019;
Shen & Bissell, 2013). Many social media platforms are quite popular in
India including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. The

CONTACT Saima saima3095@gmail.com Department of Commerce and Business Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia,
New Delhi 110025, India.
ß 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
2 SAIMA AND M. A. KHAN

enormous popularity of social media in India can be well understood by

the fact that there were 326.1 million social media users in India as of the
year 2018, and it is predicted to rise to 447.9 million users in the year 2023
(Statista, 2020).
With the increased use of social media, a new type of Digital Marketing
has become popular, called Social Media Influencer Marketing. On the one
hand, where it is quite common for brands to hire famous celebrities or pub-
lic figures for endorsing their products and services through traditional
advertising channels, social media influencers are common individuals who
grow famous online for their knowledge and expertise on a specific topic
such as food, fashion, technology, travel, education, reviews, music, movies,
sports, etc. (Lou & Yuan, 2019). According to Freberg et al. (2011): “Social
media influencers represent a new type of independent third party endorser
who shape audience attitudes through blogs, tweets, and the use of other
social media”. They regularly create and post photos, videos and other
updates related to their topic of expertise on their social media pages/profiles,
and other users follow them for their content if they are interested in that
particular topic. Influencer marketing is becoming more popular nowadays
as it is a modern type of celebrity endorsement which is also affordable
(Hall, 2015). Also, by the time brands hire social media influencers, they
have made a name for themselves in a particular domain, so when the influ-
encers sponsor brands related to their field of expertise, then it is possible
that consumers might readily believe and accept the opinion of influencers.
Today, the social media is crowded with the presence of people having
experience in diverse fields, and thus, using social media influencers for mar-
keting communication has emerged as an efficient and valuable means for
the brands (De Veirman et al., 2017; Freberg et al., 2011; Godey et al., 2016).
This type of marketing might prove to be very valuable in building a long-
term relationship with the customers for the companies looking to grow
their consumer base and convert them into lasting customers (De Vries
et al., 2012; Loureiro & Gomes, 2016; Pina et al., 2019; Raji et al., 2020).
Different companies can utilize influencer marketing according to their own
objectives, for example, it may be utilized to establish awareness about a
newly launched product or to promote online or offline sales of the existing
products or even to build a good reputation in the market. When a brand
posts about its own products on its business page on social media, people
might pay no heed to the post, considering it to be a pure advertisement but
when the same brand pays an influencer to recommend or post a review
about the product, people might pay attention to such post, as coming from
the influencer, the post does not feel like an advertisement anymore.
The positive influence of social media marketing interactions on con-
sumers’ purchase intentions has already been indicated by many studies
 JOURNAL OF PROMOTION MANAGEMENT 3

(Arli, 2017; Chakraborty & Bhat, 2018; Gautam & Sharma, 2017; Hayes &
Carr, 2015; Ibrahim et al., 2020; Loureiro & Sarmento, 2019; Ott et al.,
2016; Raji et al., 2020). Due to its huge popularity, academicians and mar-
keters are interested in exploring new methods by which social media can
be utilized for promotional activities; which is why there has been vast
research on themes like online marketing, social media and celebrity
endorsement (Kumar et al., 2020), yet research on influencer marketing is
still scant. Previous research studies have investigated how various features
of endorsers on traditional media platforms affected consumers’ purchase
intentions (Costanzo & Goodnight, 2005; Kumar, 2011; Premeaux, 2009;
Ohanian, 1991; Spears et al., 2013). However, only a few studies have been
conducted to study how the consumer purchase behavior is affected by
social media influencer marketing (Abreu, 2019; Godey et al., 2016; Lim
et al., 2017; Lou & Yuan, 2019; Trivedi & Sama, 2020). But these studies
have neglected to consider the mediating role played by credibility in
affecting the purchase intention of consumers, in the context of influencer
marketing (Chakraborty & Bhat, 2018; Chin et al., 2020; Hayes & Carr,
2015; La Ferle & Choi, 2005). The aim of this study is, therefore, to investi-
gate the effectiveness of social media influencers for marketing in a devel-
oping country like India. Particularly, the research objectives are (1) to
study the effect of various attributes of social media influencers on their
credibility, and (2) to determine the mediating role played by credibility
between these attributes and the consumers’ purchase intention.
A survey by Mediakix (2019) reported the top five social media platforms
for influencer marketing are Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Blogs and
Twitter. As per Statista (2020), India had 313 million Facebook users, 265
million YouTube users, 100 million Instagram users and 34 million Twitter
users in 2019. Thus, it is clear that YouTube, Facebook and Instagram are
the most popular social media platforms in India and therefore, only these
three platforms were considered for this study.

Conceptual and theoretical framework

This study utilized source credibility and source attractiveness models for
designing the conceptual framework that reflected the research objectives.
Hovland et al. (1953) proposed the source credibility model which states
that the two key determinants of source credibility are perceived expertise
and trustworthiness. Afterward, McGuire (1985) proposed the source
attractiveness model and suggested another determinant of source credibil-
ity, namely source attractiveness or likability. Both models are considered
to be very significant to understand the effect of endorsements on con-
sumer behavior. Ohanian (1990) has also suggested that in the context of
4 SAIMA AND M. A. KHAN

celebrity endorsement, source credibility is a tri-component construct con-

sisting of expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness. Previous studies
have applied these source models in the context of traditional media plat-
forms and suggested that these attributes positively affect the purchase
intention of consumers (Kumar, 2011; La Ferle & Choi, 2005; Wang et al.,
2017; Wang & Scheinbaum, 2018). On these lines, we propose that these
attributes will also positively affect credibility and consumers’ purchase
intentions in the context of influencer marketing. Furthermore, other attrib-
utes that affect the credibility and purchase intention include information
quality (Dao et al., 2014; Ducoffe, 1996; Ott et al., 2016; Taylor et al., 2011)
and entertainment (Arli, 2017; Dao et al., 2014; Ducoffe, 1996; Gautam &
Sharma, 2017; Kim & Ko, 2012; Taylor et al., 2011).
Previous studies have indicated that credibility plays a mediating role in
the association of source models with consumers’ purchase intention (La
Ferle & Choi, 2005; Spry et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2017). This suggests that
consumers’ purchase intention is not directly influenced by source attrib-
utes, but instead mediated by other factors. However, these studies have
been conducted in the context of traditional celebrity endorsement. Thus,
we can argue the same in the context of influencer marketing also, that the
purchase intention of consumers will be affected by the influencer’s attrib-
utes (i.e., expertise, trustworthiness, likability, information quality, enter-
tainment value) through the mediating effect of credibility. Therefore, the
following conceptual framework is formed (Figure 1):

Hypotheses development
The capability of the communicator to make true claims in a particular
area of knowledge is known as expertise. Expertise includes the familiarity,
understanding and experience gained by a person by continuously working
in the same field of knowledge. To be perceived as an expert, a communi-
cator needs to be well-informed about a topic, have the required skills of
doing something, or have a reputable title (Gass & Seiter, 2011). As per
Hovland, et al. (1953), it is not significant whether the sponsor is an expert
or not, but it is actually dependent on the way the receiver of the message
perceives him/her. A communicator’s expertise as perceived by the
audience of an advertisement, is linked with positive perception regarding
the advertisement as well as purchase intention (Hayes & Carr, 2015;
Ohanian, 1991).
H1: Expertise of the influencer positively affects the credibility of
an influencer.
H2: Expertise of the influencer positively affects a consumer’s pur-
chase intention.
 JOURNAL OF PROMOTION MANAGEMENT 5

Giffin (1967) has defined trustworthiness of a source as “the receivers’

perception of a source as honest, sincere, or truthful”. Various aspects of
credibility have been recognized by researchers in the past, but expertise
and trustworthiness are still regarded as the principal aspects of credibility
(Pornpitakpan, 2004), and these two were also the key determinants of the
effectiveness of a message according to source credibility model (Hovland,
et al., 1953). In the context of YouTube, trustworthiness affects consumers’
perceived information credibility (Xiao et al., 2018) and influences consum-
ers’ purchase decisions (Hu et al., 2003).
H3: Trustworthiness of the influencer positively affects the credibility of
an influencer.
H4: Trustworthiness of the influencer positively affects a consumer’s pur-
chase intention.
The tendency of the receiver to get drawn to the charm/personality of
the communicator, or friendliness/approachability of the communicator is
likability (Desarbo & Harshman, 1985). Likability of an endorser positively
enhances credibility, consumers’ attitude and purchase intentions (Kumar,
2011; La Ferle & Choi, 2005; Wang et al., 2017; Xiao et al., 2018).
H5: Likability of the influencer positively affects the credibility of
an influencer.
H6: Likability of the influencer positively affects a consumer’s pur-
chase intention.
People also make use of social media platforms to get access to all kinds
of information. The quality of information is positively associated with per-
ceived information credibility (Cheung et al., 2012; Slater & Rouner, 1996).
Trust in influencer’s sponsored post is positively affected by its informative
value, which eventually shapes the awareness about a brand as well as the
purchase intention of consumers (Arli, 2017; Lou & Yuan, 2019; Ott et al.,
2016; Taylor et al., 2011).
H7: Information quality of the influencer positively affects the credibility
of an influencer.
H8: Information quality of the influencer positively affects a consumer’s
purchase intention.
Entertainment is another reason why people make use of social media
platforms (Chen & Lin, 2018; De Vries et al., 2012; Leung, 2013). The per-
ception of consumers toward the value of a social media advertisement is
dependent on the informative value of the message, along with its enter-
tainment value and credibility, and eventually also affects their loyalty,
awareness and purchase intentions (Arli, 2017; Dao et al., 2014; Gautam &
Sharma, 2017; Kim & Ko, 2012; Taylor et al., 2011). Thus, it is likely that
the perceived entertainment value of the content published by influencer
may also shape the credibility and purchase intentions.
6 SAIMA AND M. A. KHAN

H9: Entertainment value of the influencer positively affects the credibility

of an influencer.
H10: Entertainment value of the influencer positively affects a consum-
er’s purchase intention.
Source credibility is “a judgement made by a perceiver concerning the
believability of a communicator” (O’Keefe, 1990). According to Ohanian
(1990), the positive features of a communicator influencing the receiver’s
acceptance of the message is also referred to as source credibility. Purchase
intention and brand attitude of consumers have been found to be depend-
ent on the credibility of endorser (Chakraborty & Bhat, 2018; Chin et al.,
2020; Djafarova & Rushworth, 2017; Hayes & Carr, 2015).
H11: Credibility of the influencer positively affects a consumer’s pur-
chase intention.
The credibility of an endorser has also been found to play a mediating
role between features of an endorser and the purchase intention of con-
sumers in the context of traditional celebrity endorsement (La Ferle &
Choi, 2005; Wang et al., 2017). Therefore, we hypothesize that the credibil-
ity of an influencer will also mediate the relationships between his/her fea-
tures and purchase intention of consumers.
H12: Credibility of influencer mediates the association between Expertise
and consumer’s purchase intention.
H13: Credibility of influencer mediates the association between
Trustworthiness and consumer’s purchase intention.
H14: Credibility of influencer mediates the association between Likability
and consumer’s purchase intention.
H15: Credibility of influencer mediates the association between
Information quality and consumer’s purchase intention.
H16: Credibility of influencer mediates the association between
Entertainment value and consumer’s purchase intention.

Research methodology
Instrument development
The instrument for this research was developed by adapting 5-point Likert
scales varying from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree” from prior
research studies. The scales to measure Expertise and Trustworthiness were
drawn from a study by Ohanian (1990), Likability from Reysen (2005),
Information Quality from a study by Cheung et al. (2012), Entertainment
value from Voss et al. (2003), and Source Credibility was adapted from a
study done by Xiao et al. (2018). Purchase Intention was measured
by adapting scales from studies conducted by Kumar (2011) and
Abreu (2019).
 JOURNAL OF PROMOTION MANAGEMENT 7

Sampling and data collection

The questionnaire was created and shared online via Google Forms to the
consumers in Delhi NCR. Only those who were active on at least one social
media platform and were regular users of the said platform were included
in the survey. The online survey was conducted during the months of
February and March 2020, and the three social media platforms included
in the online survey were YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. A filter ques-
tion was asked to know whether the respondents followed any influencers
on the social media platforms they used, and also to name one or two of
their favorite social media influencers whom they followed. Only if the
respondents replied in positive that they did follow an influencer on social
media, they were taken to the next section of the questionnaire, which
included the statements related to the factors taken in the study. Quota
sampling technique was used in the study to obtain responses, as only
those respondents who were active users of social media, and followed an
influencer, were included in the study. 127 responses were obtained, out of
which 76 respondents followed a social media influencer, so only those 76
responses were utilized further for data analysis.

Data analysis
Respondents’ demographic profile
The demographic profile of respondents is given below in Table 1. There
were 59.2% female and 40.8% male respondents. 19 to 24 years old com-
prised 68.4% respondents, 25 to 30 years were 23.7%, above 30 years were
2.6% and 5.3% were below 18 years of age. In terms of their educational
qualification, 28.9% were Undergraduate, 30.3% were Graduate, 36.8% were
Postgraduate, 1.3% had a Doctorate degree, while 2.6% had completed a
Professional Diploma or Degree course. 96.1% of the respondents were
daily users and 3.9% were weekly users of social media. 67 of the users
were active on Instagram, 54 on Facebook and 69 on YouTube. Among the
kind of pages or channels followed, 40 were interested in Fashion and
beauty, 7 in Games, 24 in Technology, 47 in Comedy, 26 in Reviews, 35 in
Travels and Blogs, 33 into Tutorials and DIY, 20 in Sports, 51 in
Education, 39 in Music and 9 in other kinds of pages.

Data analysis procedure

The study used SmartPLS 3 to analyze the research hypotheses. PLS-SEM
was selected for data analysis mainly as it is more appropriate to assess
small sample sizes (Chin et al., 2003). A two-step procedure to evaluate the
measurement and structural models was adopted.
8 SAIMA AND M. A. KHAN

Table 1. Respondents’ demographic profile.

Profile Characteristic Frequency Percent
Gender Male 31 40.8
Female 45 59.2
Age Up to 18 years 4 5.3
19-24 years 52 68.4
25-30 years 18 23.7
Above 30 years 2 2.6
Educational Qualification Undergraduate 22 28.9
Graduate 23 30.3
Postgraduate 28 36.8
Doctorate 1 1.3
Professional Diploma/Degree Course 2 2.6
Frequency of using social media Daily 73 96.1
Weekly 3 3.9
Once a month 0 0.0
Rarely 0 0.0

Common method variance testing

Harman’s one-factor technique was applied for testing Common Method Bias.
Items of all the constructs were merged in a single factor and the common
variance explained was 46.79%, which does not exceed 50%. Thus, the com-
mon method bias was insignificant for the data set (Podsakoff et al., 2003).

Measurement model evaluation

Internal consistency, convergent validity and discriminant validity were
analyzed for examining the measurement model. The Mean, Standard
Deviation and Loadings of all the constructs in the study are shown in
Table 2. Convergent validity shows “the extent to which different measures
refer to the same conceptual construct” (Dinev & Hart, 2004, p. 417).
Table 3 shows that all seven constructs met the required thresholds as the
values of loadings were above 0.708, Composite Reliability was above 0.7
and Average Variance Extracted exceeded 0.5 (Hair et al., 2017). The value
of Cronbach’s Alpha to ascertain internal consistency was also greater than
0.7 (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). Thus, the convergent validity of the con-
structs was established.
The Fornell-Larcker, cross-loading and Heterotrait-Monotrait criteria
were examined to check the discriminant validity. Discriminant validity
indicates “the extent to which the measure is adequately distinguishable
from related constructs within the nomological net” (Dinev & Hart, 2004,
p. 417). Table 4 depicts the Fornell-Larcker criterion in which the square
roots of Average Variance Extracted of the constructs were CRED (0.962),
ENTT (0.847), EXPT (0.816), LIKE (0.927), PURC (0.866), QLTY (0.945)
and TRUST (0.881), which were higher than the correlation values between
each construct as well as all other constructs. Thus, discriminant validity
was established as per the Fornell-Larcker criterion.
 JOURNAL OF PROMOTION MANAGEMENT 9

Table 2. Mean, SD and loadings of constructs.

Construct Item Mean SD Loading
Expertise Expt1 4.11 .810 0.787
Expt2 4.37 .629 0.846
Expt3 4.21 .718 0.794
Expt4 4.34 .703 0.837
Trustworthiness Trust1 3.96 .999 0.834
Trust2 4.14 .962 0.897
Trust3 4.14 .828 0.911
Likability Like1 4.18 .743 0.936
Like2 4.38 .765 0.918
Information Quality Qlty1 4.32 .787 0.957
Qlty2 4.16 .865 0.932
Entertainment Value Entt1 4.30 .817 0.854
Entt2 4.41 .715 0.895
Entt3 3.88 .879 0.764
Entt4 4.42 .735 0.870
Credibility Cred1 4.38 .765 0.962
Cred2 4.28 .776 0.963
Purchase Intention Purc1 4.21 .869 0.774
Purc2 4.09 .786 0.864
Purc3 3.92 .977 0.873
Purc4 3.91 .912 0.894
Purc5 3.89 .932 0.911
Purc6 4.07 .869 0.876

Table 3. Cronbach’s Alpha, composite reliability and average variance extracted of constructs.
Construct Cronbach’s Alpha Composite Reliability Average Variance Extracted
Expertise 0.834 0.889 0.667
Trustworthiness 0.857 0.912 0.777
Likability 0.836 0.924 0.859
Information Quality 0.881 0.943 0.893
Entertainment Value 0.868 0.910 0.718
Credibility 0.920 0.962 0.926
Purchase Intention 0.933 0.947 0.750

Table 4. Discriminant validity–Fornell-Larcker criterion.

CRED ENTT EXPT LIKE PURC QLTY TRUST
CRED 0.962
ENTT 0.712 0.847
EXPT 0.692 0.607 0.816
LIKE 0.714 0.690 0.688 0.927
PURC 0.427 0.429 0.344 0.424 0.866
QLTY 0.804 0.650 0.727 0.694 0.384 0.945
TRUST 0.788 0.617 0.672 0.726 0.463 0.736 0.881

Table 5 shows the cross-loading criterion in which all constructs’ loadings

were higher than cross-loadings with other constructs across the columns.
Thus, discriminant validity was ascertained as per the cross-loading criterion.
Table 6 shows the Heterotrait-Monotrait ratio of the constructs and since
all the constructs had HTMT less than 0.9 (Henseler et al., 2015), the meas-
urement model’s discriminant validity was established.
10 SAIMA AND M. A. KHAN

Table 5. Discriminant validity–loading and cross-loading criterion.

CRED ENTT EXPT LIKE PURC QLTY TRUST
Cred1 0.962 0.687 0.702 0.670 0.401 0.773 0.750
Cred2 0.963 0.684 0.630 0.705 0.421 0.775 0.766
Entt1 0.560 0.854 0.492 0.585 0.293 0.555 0.499
Entt2 0.623 0.895 0.565 0.700 0.345 0.551 0.480
Entt3 0.613 0.764 0.497 0.481 0.449 0.541 0.609
Entt4 0.611 0.870 0.498 0.566 0.359 0.553 0.501
Exp1 0.552 0.404 0.787 0.570 0.451 0.549 0.559
Exp2 0.523 0.496 0.846 0.590 0.313 0.537 0.495
Exp3 0.494 0.442 0.794 0.488 0.164 0.609 0.494
Exp4 0.663 0.615 0.837 0.588 0.203 0.666 0.625
Like1 0.699 0.650 0.625 0.936 0.394 0.663 0.769
Like2 0.621 0.628 0.652 0.918 0.392 0.621 0.565
Purc1 0.325 0.371 0.412 0.476 0.774 0.348 0.345
Purc2 0.256 0.276 0.237 0.276 0.864 0.184 0.307
Purc3 0.331 0.367 0.230 0.307 0.873 0.258 0.333
Purc4 0.410 0.416 0.272 0.378 0.894 0.377 0.400
Purc5 0.398 0.353 0.306 0.344 0.911 0.309 0.458
Purc6 0.442 0.411 0.323 0.399 0.876 0.448 0.503
Qlty1 0.836 0.639 0.706 0.685 0.393 0.957 0.707
Qlty2 0.666 0.585 0.665 0.621 0.326 0.932 0.682
Trust1 0.584 0.438 0.481 0.500 0.427 0.525 0.834
Trust2 0.792 0.608 0.676 0.687 0.418 0.721 0.897
Trust3 0.681 0.566 0.595 0.708 0.384 0.675 0.911

Table 6. Discriminant validity–Heterotrait-Monotrait criterion.

CRED ENTT EXPT LIKE PURC QLTY TRUST
CRED
ENTT 0.796
EXPT 0.780 0.703
LIKE 0.811 0.809 0.821
PURC 0.449 0.467 0.390 0.475
QLTY 0.882 0.741 0.841 0.803 0.404
TRUST 0.876 0.706 0.775 0.839 0.507 0.835

Structural model evaluation

Before the structural model evaluation, multicollinearity must be checked
to ascertain that results are valid. The Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) val-
ues were below 5, between the range of 1.519 to 4.137, implying the
absence of multicollinearity in the model (Hair & Lukas, 2014). Next, the
structural model was evaluated by the bootstrapping method (5,000 resam-
ples) to check the significance of the hypotheses (Table 7). Hypotheses H3,
H7 and H9 were supported, indicating that Trustworthiness (b ¼ 0.375,
t ¼ 2.685, p < 0.01), Information Quality (b ¼ 0.338, t ¼ 2.806, p < 0.01) and
Entertainment value (b ¼ 0.238, t ¼ 2.656, p < 0.01) were positively related
to Source Credibility. Also, H4 and H11 were supported, revealing that
Trustworthiness (b ¼ 0.317, t ¼ 2.099, p < 0.05) and Credibility (b ¼ 0.427,
t ¼ 4.519, p < 0.001) were positively associated with Purchase Intention. On
the other hand, Expertise (b ¼ 0.035, t ¼ 0.381, n.s.) and Likability
 JOURNAL OF PROMOTION MANAGEMENT 11

Table 7. Results of hypothesis testing.

Hypothesis Path b S.E. t-value Result
H1 Expertise ! Credibility 0.035 0.092 0.381 Not supported
H2 Expertise ! PI 0.073 0.197 0.371 Not supported
H3 Trustworthiness ! Credibility 0.375 0.140 2.685 Supported
H4 Trustworthiness ! PI 0.317 0.151 2.099 Supported
H5 Likability ! Credibility 0.002 0.101 0.021 Not supported
H6 Likability ! PI 0.035 0.187 0.187 Not supported
H7 Information Quality ! Credibility 0.338 0.121 2.806 Supported
H8 Information Quality ! PI 0.068 0.174 0.391 Not supported
H9 Entertainment Value ! Credibility 0.238 0.090 2.656 Supported
H10 Entertainment Value ! PI 0.245 0.214 1.143 Not supported
H11 Credibility ! PI 0.427 0.095 4.519 Supported
H12 Expertise ! Credibility ! PI 0.015 0.042 0.356 Not supported
H13 Trustworthiness ! Credibility ! PI 0.160 0.078 2.065 Supported
H14 Likability ! Credibility ! PI 0.001 0.047 0.019 Not supported
H15 Information Quality ! Credibility ! PI 0.145 0.059 2.451 Supported
H16 Entertainment Value ! Credibility ! PI 0.102 0.050 2.042 Supported
Notes: p < 0.05; p < 0.01; p < .001.
PI ¼ Purchase Intention.

(b ¼ 0.002, t ¼ 0.021, n.s.) were not significant in affecting Credibility, so

H1 and H5 were not supported. With regards to effect on Purchase
Intention, Expertise (b ¼ 0.073, t ¼ 0.371, n.s.), Likability (b ¼ 0.035,
t ¼ 0.187, n.s.), Information Quality (b ¼ 0.068, t ¼ 0.391, n.s.), and
Entertainment value (b ¼ 0.245, t ¼ 1.143, n.s.) were insignificant. Thus,
H2, H6, H8 and H10 were also not supported.

Mediating role of credibility

The mediating role of credibility was also tested between the five factors
and purchase intention of consumers. The results show that credibility par-
tially mediated the relationship between trustworthiness (b ¼ 0.160,
t ¼ 2.065, p < 0.05) and purchase intention; and fully mediated the relation-
ships between information quality (b ¼ 0.145, t ¼ 2.451, p < 0.05) and pur-
chase intention, as well as entertainment value (b ¼ 0.102, t ¼ 2.042,
p < 0.05) and purchase intention. Therefore, H13, H15 and H16 were sup-
ported. On the other hand, credibility did not play a mediating role
between the relationships of Expertise (b ¼ 0.015, t ¼ 0.356, n.s.) and
Likability (b ¼ 0.001, t ¼ 0.019, n.s.) with purchase intention, so H12 and
H14 were not supported.
Next, the R2 value (Coefficient of determination) was evaluated.
Expertise, Trustworthiness, Likability, Information Quality and
Entertainment value represented 76.5% of the explained variance for
Source Credibility. Also, Source Credibility represented 18.3% of the
explained variance for Purchase Intention. Subsequently, the effect size was
evaluated. In explaining Credibility, Information Quality (0.175) and
Trustworthiness (0.159) showed a medium effect size, Entertainment value
(0.093) exerted low effect, while Expertise (0.004) as well as Likability
12 SAIMA AND M. A. KHAN

Table 8. Differences between demographic factors.

Expertise Trust Likability Quality
Demographic (mean) Sig. (mean) Sig. (mean) Sig. (mean) Sig.
Gender: .498 .136 .978 .637
Male 40.53 42.97 38.42 39.89
Female 37.10 35.42 38.56 37.54
Age: .956 .656 .687 .884
Up to 18 years 39.50 37.75 39.50 41.50
19-24 years 38.47 39.84 39.98 39.10
25-30 years 37.47 33.61 33.33 35.44
Above 30 years 46.50 49.25 44.50 44.50
Education: .008 .030 .104 .164
Undergraduate 41.09 42.59 40.11 38.55
Graduate 48.76 45.43 46.50 44.93
Postgraduate 28.63 30.14 30.70 34.07
Doctorate 6.00 1.50 25.50 1.50
Professional Diploma/ Degree 46.50 49.25 44.50 44.50
Demographic Entertainment Sig. Credibility Sig. Purchase Sig.
(mean) (mean) (mean)
Gender: .894 .477 .662
Male 38.90 40.55 39.82
Female 38.22 37.09 37.59
Age: .864 .497 .191
Up to 18 years 31.13 42.00 20.25
19-24 years 38.54 40.38 39.61
25-30 years 39.14 31.92 37.08
Above 30 years 46.50 42.00 59.00
Education: .145 .010 .001
Undergraduate 35.75 40.50 28.18
Graduate 46.93 48.39 52.41
Postgraduate 35.20 29.82 33.25
Doctorate 5.00 3.00 51.50
Professional Diploma/ Degree 34.75 42.00 59.00

(0.003) indicated no effect. Also, in terms of Purchase Intention, Credibility

(0.223) showed a medium effect, Entertainment value (0.040) and
Trustworthiness (0.056) exerted low effect, while Expertise (0.003),
Likability (0.001) and Information Quality (0.002) indicated no effect.
Then, Stone-Geisser’s Q2 was employed using the blindfolding technique
to check the predictive relevance of the model. The Q2 values were above
zero (Hair et al., 2013) for source credibility (0.683) and purchase intention
(0.130), thus, the model’s predictive relevance is supported. Finally, Mann-
Whitney U Test and Kruskal-Wallis H Test were utilized to explore
statistical differences between demographic factors (Table 8). No significant
differences were found between consumers’ perception toward various
attributes based on their gender and age. On the basis of educational levels,
there were differences in consumers’ perception toward expertise
(p < 0.01), trustworthiness (p < 0.05), credibility (p < 0.05) and purchase
intention (p < 0.01). Particularly, Graduate respondents tend to consider
influencers as more expert and credible, while Professional Diploma/Degree
holders considered influencers to be more trustworthy and had higher pur-
chase intentions.
 JOURNAL OF PROMOTION MANAGEMENT 13

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework.

Discussion
Social media influencer marketing is among the latest popular trends in
digital marketing. This research attempted to identify the effect of the char-
acteristics of social media influencers on their credibility and if their cred-
ibility played a mediating role between these attributes and the purchase
intention of consumers. Consistent with the source credibility model
(Hovland et al., 1953), trustworthiness showed significant effects on the
influencer’s credibility and consumers’ purchase intention (H3 and H4 sup-
ported). The information quality of the influencer also significantly affected
the credibility and consumers’ purchase intention (H7 and H8 supported),
similar to the results of prior research (Arli, 2017; Cheung et al., 2012). To
attract and maintain their followers on social media, influencers try to cre-
ate and post informative content regularly, thus understandably the inform-
ative value of the content posted by influencers significantly influences
their followers’ purchase intentions. Meanwhile, the entertainment value of
the influencer’s content was also significant in affecting the credibility of
influencer and consumers’ purchase intention (H9 and H10 supported)
similar to earlier findings (Dao et al., 2014; Gautam & Sharma, 2017).
Thus, it is evident that social media users expect qualitative as well as
entertaining content from an influencer and it also subsequently affects
their purchase intention. Also, the credibility of the influencer was
14 SAIMA AND M. A. KHAN

significant in affecting the consumers’ purchase intention (H11 supported),

which is consistent with the results of a previous study by Hayes & Carr
(2015). Surprisingly, as opposed to existing literature, influencer’s expertise
was found to be insignificant in affecting the influencer’s credibility as well
as consumers’ purchase intention (H1 and H2 not supported). Moreover,
the likability of the influencers was also insignificant in affecting influ-
encer’s credibility and purchase intention (H5 and H6 not supported), as
opposed to the results of prior studies, which implies that rather than on
the looks and personality, consumers focus on the content of the posts that
the influencer shares on social media. Lastly, with regards to the mediating
effect of credibility, it was found that trustworthiness had significant posi-
tive indirect effect on purchase intention (H13 supported) consistent with
previous studies by La Ferle & Choi (2005) and Wang et al. (2017). But
their studies did not focus particularly on influencer marketing, making
these findings a unique contribution. Meanwhile, the information quality
and entertainment value also affected purchase intention indirectly through
the mediation of credibility (H15 and H16 supported) and these are the find-
ings we did not manage to find similar to that of the existing literature.
Also, contrary to the hypothesis formulated, expertise and likability had no
significant indirect effects on purchase intention via credibility (H12 and
H14 not supported).

Theoretical and managerial implications

The theoretical perspectives of this research include enhancing the under-
standing of consumers’ perception of influencer marketing in a large
marketplace like India. Only a few studies have examined the role of social
media influencers in affecting purchase intentions in India. The findings of
this study add on to the current literature by presenting a comprehensive
framework to explain the role of the influencer’s characteristics in affecting
the purchase intention of consumers through the mediation of credibility.
The findings revealed that trustworthiness, information quality and enter-
tainment value had significant direct effects on the influencer’s credibility
and significant indirect effects on the purchase intention of consumers.
Thus, this study establishes the significance of being informative, qualitative
and entertaining for influencer marketing to be effective. Also, the purchase
intention was directly affected by an influencer’s trustworthiness and cred-
ibility. Expertise and likability were found to be insignificant in affecting
credibility as well as purchase intention, while information quality and
entertainment value could not affect purchase intention directly. Therefore,
in the context of influencer marketing, this study determined the mediating
role played by credibility in affecting consumers’ purchase intentions
 JOURNAL OF PROMOTION MANAGEMENT 15

through features of trustworthiness, information quality, entertainment

value and credibility of influencers, which is an important contribution to
understand the effectiveness of influencer marketing.
Our research provides several managerial implications. By identifying the
particular characteristics that affect the purchase intention of influencer’s
followers, the companies can be more assured that their investment in
influencer will pay off in form of increased sales and brand awareness, if
the influencer they chose possesses the identified characteristics. The con-
sumers’ purchase intention might be positively affected by these attributes
in combination with other factors. Thus, marketers should try to find and
engage influencers who have those attributes in order to achieve their mar-
keting objectives. The marketers should pay due consideration to choose an
appropriate social media influencer who can enhance the credibility of the
posts to influence purchase intention. Also. marketers should place more
emphasis on choosing an influencer whose content is well-trusted among
his/her followers. And finally, marketers should hire an influencer who can
post informative as well as entertaining advertising content for his/her
audience during their collaboration.
Also, for the influencers, this study suggests some important recommenda-
tions. Influencers should provide good quality informational content through
their posts, while also being entertaining, credible and trustworthy. Even
when their popularity grows in the long run, maintaining these attributes
will be advantageous for them. Therefore, if the influencers wish to keep and
expand their alliances with brands, or to grow their existing audience, it is
essential that they possess positive features and maintain them over time.

Limitations and future research

This section lists a few limitations of this research study which should be
taken into consideration. First, the sample size in this study is compara-
tively less to generalize for the large population of India, and the majority
of the respondents were aged 19-30 years. So, future studies might take a
larger sample size and focus on the age group of above 40 years as their
perception of influencer marketing might be different. Also, the respond-
ents in the study belonged to the urban class of the population who have
more access to technology and thus, social media. Future research might
include the rural class of India in the study as the rural class constitutes for a
bigger section of the Indian population and if the companies are unable to
reach them through influencer marketing due to technological barriers, then
the success of influencer marketing becomes a big question mark. Furthermore,
quota sampling was used to determine the respondents taken in the study. So,
16 SAIMA AND M. A. KHAN

in future research, if probability sampling techniques could be used to collect

data, then the generalizability of the findings could be improved.
In this research, the influencer’s expertise and likability were insignificant in
affecting the influencer’s credibility, so in future research, the field of the
expertise of influencer and the kinds of products endorsed by them might be
considered to examine if the findings are different. Also, future studies can
make use of longitudinal research design to examine influencer marketing’s
long-term effect on the purchase intention of consumers, as such a study might
possibly be affected by the innovations in technology and change in social
media platforms. Future studies can also use qualitative methods to identify
other influencer’s attributes which affect consumers’ purchase intention, or
investigate the effect of social media influencer marketing on other aspects like
brand awareness, brand admiration, consumer engagement and brand image.

Conclusion
Influencer marketing is a relatively new marketing strategy in the current
times and is being used by many companies to positively shape the con-
sumers’ perception toward their brands. This study evaluated the effect of
influencer’s attributes in affecting the purchase intention of consumers
through the mediation of credibility in the context of India. The success of
influencers as endorsers of a brand can be ascertained by the positive rela-
tionship of different influencer’s characteristics with the consumers’ pur-
chase intentions. Some of the characteristics included in the study were
significant in shaping consumers’ purchase intention, while some others were
not. The influencer’s credibility had the most significant direct effect on pur-
chase intention followed by trustworthiness. In affecting influencer’s credibil-
ity, trustworthiness was most significant followed by information quality and
entertainment value. Further, influencer’s credibility partially mediated the
relationship between trustworthiness and consumers’ purchase intention; and
fully mediated the relationships between information quality as well as enter-
tainment value and purchase intention. Thus, it is important for a brand to
select a trustworthy influencer who can create good quality content while
also being entertaining, to positively affect the credibility, and eventually pur-
chase intention of consumers. Interestingly, expertise and likability of influ-
encer were found to be insignificant in affecting credibility and consumers’
purchase intention directly or indirectly.
As far as influencers are concerned, they need to be careful while
choosing a product to endorse or brand to collaborate with, and they
should maintain the quality and credibility of the content they post.
Influencers should remember that today’s consumers are digitally smart
and if they are provided with false information, the consumers will stop
 JOURNAL OF PROMOTION MANAGEMENT 17

trusting them as ultimately the price and perceived value of the product
are most important to them. Today, consumers can find the facts easily
through a mere Google search and are able to make informed decisions
and research thoroughly before actually buying. So, if influencers post
incorrect or misleading information, then the consumers would simply
switch over to some other influencer as there is not a lack of options
online. Thus, it is crucial for the influencers to maintain trust, quality and
credibility over time. Only if the consumers trust the influencer and the
information provided in his/her posts is qualitative and entertaining, then
a long-term successful relationship can be established between the con-
sumers and the brands through the influencers.
Undoubtedly, only the attributes possessed by an influencer are not
enough to make a substantial impact to make a consumer buy a product
without thinking or contemplating about it. But these attributes might
improve or decrease the purchase intention when combined with other fac-
tors. Moreover, purchase intention is dependent upon several factors other
than the influencer’s characteristics, such as the need for a product, per-
ceived value, price, brand perception and some others. Therefore, only an
influencer’s characteristics may not be able to make a consumer buy a
product but can definitely make him/her consider buying it when the need
arises and the rest of the factors are favorable.

ORCID
Saima http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7459-9907

References
Abreu, R. (2019). Social media micro-infleuncer marketing and purchasing intention of mil-
lenials: The role of perceived authenticity and trust [Doctoral dissertation].
Arli, D. (2017). Does Social Media Matter? Investigating the Effect of Social Media Features
on Consumer Attitudes. Journal of Promotion Management, 23(4), 521–539. https://doi.
org/10.1080/10496491.2017.1297974
Arora, A. S., & Sanni, S. A. (2019). Ten Years of ‘Social Media Marketing’ Research in the
Journal of Promotion Management: Research Synthesis, Emerging Themes, and New
Directions. Journal of Promotion Management, 25(4), 476–499. https://doi.org/10.1080/
10496491.2018.1448322
Chakraborty, U., & Bhat, S. (2018). The Effects of Credible Online Reviews on Brand
Equity Dimensions and Its Consequence on Consumer Behavior. Journal of Promotion
Management, 24(1), 57–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2017.1346541
Chen, C. C., & Lin, Y. C. (2018). What drives live-stream usage intention? The perspectives
of flow, entertainment, social interaction, and endorsement. Telematics and Informatics,
35(1), 293–303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2017.12.003
Cheung, C. M. Y., Sia, C. L., & Kuan, K. K. Y, (2012). Is this review believable? A study of
factors affecting the credibility of online consumer reviews from an ELM perspective.
18 SAIMA AND M. A. KHAN

Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 13(8), 618–635. https://doi.org/10.

17705/1jais.00305
Chin, P. N., Isa, S. M., & Alodin, Y. (2020). The impact of endorser and brand credibility
on consumers’ purchase intention: the mediating effect of attitude towards brand and
brand credibility. Journal of Marketing Communications, 26(8), 896–817. https://doi.org/
10.1080/13527266.2019.1604561
Chin, W. W., Marcolin, B. L., & Newsted, P. R. (2003). A partial least squares latent vari-
able modeling approach for measuring interaction effects: Results from a Monte Carlo
simulation study and an electronic-mail emotion/adoption study. Information Systems
Research, 14(2), 189–217. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.14.2.189.16018
Costanzo, P. J., & Goodnight, J. E. (2005). Celebrity endorsements: Matching celebrity and
endorsed brand in magazine advertisements. Journal of Promotion Management, 11(4),
49–62. https://doi.org/10.1300/J057v11n04_05
Dao, W. V. T., Le, A. N. H., Cheng, J. M. S., & Chen, D. C. (2014). Social media advertis-
ing value: The case of transitional economies in Southeast Asia. International Journal of
Advertising, 33(2), 271–294. https://doi.org/10.2501/IJA-33-2-271-294
De Veirman, M., Cauberghe, V., & Hudders, L. (2017). Marketing through instagram influ-
encers: The impact of number of followers and product divergence on brand attitude.
International Journal of Advertising, 36(5), 798–828. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.
2017.1348035
De Vries, L., Gensler, S., & Leeflang, P. S. H. (2012). Popularity of Brand Posts on Brand
Fan Pages: An Investigation of the Effects of Social Media Marketing. Journal of
Interactive Marketing, 26(2), 83–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2012.01.003
Desarbo, W. S., & Harshman, R. A. (1985). Celebrity-brand congruence analysis. Current Issues
and Research in Advertising, 8(1), 17–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/01633392.1985.10505371
Dinev, T., & Hart, P. (2004). Internet privacy concerns and their antecedents-measurement
validity and a regression model. Behaviour & Information Technology, 23(6), 413–422.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01449290410001715723
Djafarova, E., & Rushworth, C. (2017). Exploring the credibility of online celebrities’
Instagram profiles in influencing the purchase decisions of young female users.
Computers in Human Behavior, 68, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.11.009
Dodoo, N. A. (2018). Why Consumers Like Facebook Brands: The Role of Aspirational
Brand Personality in Consumer Behavior. Journal of Promotion Management, 24(1),
103–127. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2017.1346536
Ducoffe, R. H. (1996). Advertising value and advertising on the web. Journal of Advertising
Research, 36(5), 21–35. https://slidelegend.com/advertising-value-and-advertising-on-the-
web-blog-management_5a85ffde1723dd53ce733391.html
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating Structural Equation Models with
Unobservable Variables and Measurement Error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1),
39–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800104
Freberg, K., Graham, K., McGaughey, K., & Freberg, L. A. (2011). Who are the social
media influencers? A study of public perceptions of personality. Public Relations Review,
37(1), 90–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2010.11.001
Gass, R., & Seiter, J. (2011). Persuasion, social influence and compliance gaining, 4e ed.
Gautam, V., & Sharma, V. (2017). The Mediating Role of Customer Relationship on the
Social Media Marketing and Purchase Intention Relationship with Special Reference to
Luxury Fashion Brands. Journal of Promotion Management, 23(6), 872–888. https://doi.
org/10.1080/10496491.2017.1323262
 JOURNAL OF PROMOTION MANAGEMENT 19

Giffin, K. (1967). The contribution of studies of source credibility to a theory of interper-

sonal trust in the communication process. Psychological Bulletin, 68(2), 104–120. https://
doi.org/10.1037/h0024833
Godey, B., Manthiou, A., Pederzoli, D., Rokka, J., Aiello, G., Donvito, R., & Singh, R.
(2016). Social media marketing efforts of luxury brands: Influence on brand equity and
consumer behavior. Journal of Business Research, 69(12), 5833–5841. https://doi.org/10.
1016/j.jbusres.2016.04.181
Hair, J. F., Jr, & Lukas, B. (2014). Marketing research. (Vol. 2). McGraw-Hill Education.
Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., Sarstedt, M., & Thiele, K. O. (2017). Mirror, mir-
ror on the wall: a comparative evaluation of composite-based structural equation model-
ing methods. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 45(5), 616–632. https://doi.
org/10.1007/s11747-017-0517-x
Hair, J. F., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2013). Partial Least Squares Structural Equation
Modeling: Rigorous Applications, Better Results and Higher Acceptance. Long Range
Planning, 46(1-2), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2013.01.001
Hall, J. (2015). Build Authentic Audience Experiences Through Influencer Marketing.
Retrieved July 5, 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhall/2015/12/17/build-
authentic-audience-experiences-through-influencer-marketing/#5f75d5624ff2
Hayes, R. A., & Carr, C. T. (2015). Does Being Social Matter? Effects of Enabled
Commenting on Credibility and Brand Attitude in Social Media. Journal of Promotion
Management, 21(3), 371–390. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2015.1039178
Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2015). A new criterion for assessing discrimin-
ant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the Academy of
Marketing Science, 43(1), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0403-8
Hovland, C. I., Janis, I. L., & Kelley, H. H. (1953). Communication and persuasion. Yale
University Press.
Hu, X., Lin, Z., & Zhang, H. (2003). Trust promoting seals in electronic markets: An
exploratory study of their effectiveness for online sales promotion. Journal of Promotion
Management, 9(1-2), 163–180. https://doi.org/10.1300/J057v09n01_13
Ibrahim, B., Aljarah, A., & Ababneh, B. (2020). Do Social Media Marketing Activities
Enhance Consumer Perception of Brands? A Meta-Analytic Examination. Journal of
Promotion Management, 26(4), 544–568. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2020.1719956
Kim, A. J., & Ko, E. (2012). Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity?
An empirical study of luxury fashion brand. Journal of Business Research, 65(10),
1480–1486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.10.014
Kumar, A. (2011). Celebrity Endorsements and Its Impact on Consumer Buying Behaviour.
SSRN Electronic Journal, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1802531
Kumar, S., Spais, G. S., Kumar, D., & Sureka, R. (2020). A Bibliometric History of the
Journal of Promotion Management (1992–2019. ). Journal of Promotion Management ,
26(1), 97–120. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2019.1685622
La Ferle, C., & Choi, S. M. (2005). The importance of perceived endorser credibility in
south korean advertising. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, 27(2),
67–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/10641734.2005.10505182
Leung, L. (2013). Generational differences in content generation in social media: The roles
of the gratifications sought and of narcissism. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3),
997–1006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.12.028
Lim, X. J., Radzol, A. M., Cheah, J., & Wong, M. W. (2017). The Impact of Social Media
Influencers on Purchase Intention and the Mediation Effect of Customer Attitude. Asian
Journal of Business Research, 7(2), 19–36. https://doi.org/10.14707/ajbr.170035
20 SAIMA AND M. A. KHAN

Lou, C., & Yuan, S. (2019). Influencer Marketing: How Message Value and Credibility
Affect Consumer Trust of Branded Content on Social Media. Journal of Interactive
Advertising, 19(1), 58–73. https://doi.org/10.1080/15252019.2018.1533501
Loureiro, S. M. C., & Gomes, D. G. (2016). Relationship Between Companies and the
Public on Facebook: The Portuguese and the Brazilian Context. Journal of Promotion
Management, 22(5), 705–718. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2016.1185493
Loureiro, S. M. C., & Sarmento, E. M. (2019). Exploring the Determinants of Instagram as
a Social Network for Online Consumer-Brand Relationship. Journal of Promotion
Management, 25(3), 354–366. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2019.1557814
McGuire, W. J. (1985). Attitudes and attitude change. The Handbook of Social Psychology,
Vol. 2, 233–346. Retrieved September 14, 2020, from https://ci. nii.ac.jp/naid/
10024055609/
Mediakix (2019). Influencer Marketing Survey Results: 2019 Industry Benchmarks. Retrieved
August 7, 2020, from https://mediakix.com/influencer-marketing-resources/influencer-
marketing-industry-statistics-survey-benchmarks/#instagram
O’Keefe, D. J. (1990). Persuasion: Theory and research. Sage. https://www.scholars.north-
western.edu/en/publications/persuasion-theory-and-research-2
Ohanian, R. (1990). Construction and validation of a scale to measure celebrity endorsers’
perceived expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness. Journal of Advertising, 19(3),
39–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.1990.10673191
Ohanian, R. (1991). The impact of celebrity spokespersons’ perceived image on consumers’
intention to purchase. Journal of Advertising Research, 31(1), 46–54.
Ott, H. K., Vafeiadis, M., Kumble, S., & Waddell, T. F. (2016). Effect of Message
Interactivity on Product Attitudes and Purchase Intentions. Journal of Promotion
Management, 22(1), 89–106. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2015.1107011
Papasolomou, I., & Melanthiou, Y. (2012). Social Media: Marketing Public Relations’ New
Best Friend. Journal of Promotion Management, 18(3), 319–328. https://doi.org/10.1080/
10496491.2012.696458
Pina, L. S., Loureiro, S. M. C., Rita, P., Sarmento, E. M., Bilro, R. G., & Guerreiro, J.
(2019). Analysing Consumer-Brand Engagement Through Appreciative Listening on
Social Network Platforms. Journal of Promotion Management, 25(3), 304–313. https://doi.
org/10.1080/10496491.2019.1557805
Pinto, L., Loureiro, S. M. C., Rita, P., & Sarmento, E. M. (2019). Fostering Online
Relationships With Brands Through Websites and Social Media Brand Pages. Journal of
Promotion Management, 25(3), 379–393. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2019.1557817
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J. Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common Method
Biases in Behavioral Research: A Critical Review of the Literature and Recommended
Remedies. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879–903. https://doi.org/10.1037/
0021-9010.88.5.879
Pornpitakpan, C. (2004). The Persuasiveness of Source Credibility: A Critical Review of
Five Decades’ Evidence. In Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34(2), 243–281.
Bellwether Publishing, Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2004.tb02547.x
Premeaux, S. R. (2009). The attitudes of middle class versus upper class male and female
consumers regarding the effectiveness of celebrity endorsers. Journal of Promotion
Management, 15(1-2), 2–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496490902854820
Raji, R. A., Mohd Rashid, S., Mohd Ishak, S., & Mohamad, B. (2020). Do Firm-Created
Contents on Social Media Enhance Brand Equity and Consumer Response Among
Consumers of Automotive Brands? Journal of Promotion Management, 26(1), 19–49.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2019.1612490
 JOURNAL OF PROMOTION MANAGEMENT 21

Reysen, S. (2005). Construction of a new scale: The Reysen Likability Scale. Social Behavior
and Personality: An International Journal, 33(2), 201–208. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.
2005.33.2.201
Shen, B., & Bissell, K. (2013). Social Media, Social Me: A Content Analysis of Beauty
Companies’ Use of Facebook in Marketing and Branding. Journal of Promotion
Management, 19(5), 629–651. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2013.829160
Slater, M. D., & Rouner, D. (1996). How Message Evaluation and Source Attributes May
Influence Credibility Assessment and Belief Change. Journalism & Mass Communication
Quarterly, 73(4), 974–991. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769909607300415
Spears, N., Royne, M., & Van Steenburg, E. (2013). Are Celebrity-Heroes Effective
Endorsers? Exploring the Link between Hero, Celebrity, and Advertising Response.
Journal of Promotion Management, 19(1), 17–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2012.
715126
Spry, A., Pappu, R., & Cornwell, T. B. (2011). Celebrity endorsement, brand credibility and
brand equity. European Journal of Marketing, 45(6), 882–909. https://doi.org/10.1108/
03090561111119958
Statista (2020). Number of social network users in India from 2015 to 2018 with a forecast
until 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2020, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/278407/num-
ber-of-social-network-users-in-india/
Statista (2020). Social media usage in India - statistics & facts. https://www.statista.com/
topics/5113/social-media-usage-in-india/ Retrieved August 7, 2020, from https://www.sta-
tista.com/topics/5113/social-media-usage-in-india/
Taylor, D. G., Lewin, J. E., & Strutton, D. (2011). Friends, fans, and followers: Do ads work
on social networks? How gender and age shape receptivity. Journal of Advertising
Research, 51(1), 258–276. https://doi.org/10.2501/JAR-51-1-258-275
Trivedi, J., & Sama, R. (2020). The Effect of Influencer Marketing on Consumers’ Brand
Admiration and Online Purchase Intentions: An Emerging Market Perspective. Journal
of Internet Commerce, 19(1), 103–124. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332861.2019.1700741
Voss, K. E., Spangenberg, E. R., & Grohmann, B. (2003). Measuring the Hedonic and
Utilitarian Dimensions of Consumer Attitude. Journal of Marketing Research, 40(3),
310–320. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.40.3.310.19238
Wang, S. W., Kao, G. H. Y., & Ngamsiriudom, W. (2017). Consumers’ attitude of endorser
credibility, brand and intention with respect to celebrity endorsement of the airline sec-
tor. Journal of Air Transport Management, 60, 10–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.
2016.12.007
Wang, S. W., & Scheinbaum, A. C. (2018). Enhancing brand credibility via celebrity
endorsement trustworthiness trumps attractiveness and expertise. Journal of Advertising
Research, 58(1), 16–32. https://doi.org/10.2501/JAR-2017-042
Xiao, M., Wang, R., & Chan-Olmsted, S. (2018). Factors affecting YouTube influencer mar-
keting credibility: a heuristic-systematic model. Journal of Media Business Studies, 15(3),
188–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.2018.1501146